Artist Valerie Caveglia took a year’s leave of absence from a teaching career and discovered her “artist within”. A native Californian, Valerie had spent the prior twenty odd years visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico, during summer vacations. There she learned the elements of design by virtue of proximity to and the viewing of some of the best art in the Western United States.

Valerie was inspired to try her hand at functional art. Using 1x1 pine sticks, she developed a technique for building a sturdy mirror frame. In many of her works, the art is the frame itself. The mirror frames create a multi-media composition reflecting design elements from other cultures as well as whimsical themes. Later on, she began experimenting with collage, and ended up extending the collage into the hand made frames, so that the finished piece becomes a unified expression of a theme. Many of the design features used in her work have been collected in Valerie’s worldwide travels. Valerie’s work is filled with imagination, expressed through strong sense of color and design.

Valerie’s “Images in Wood” can be found in private collections in homes in Oregon, Texas, Illinois, and throughout California, including San Diego, Alameda, Castro Valley, Carmel, Monterey, Sonora, Lake Tahoe, Pleasanton, Berkeley, and Hayward. Her work is currently showing at the Sun Gallery (Sungallery.org) gift shop in Hayward and is available from her website: valeriesimagesinwood.com.